Marriage with my daughter's father: Darling please be gentle - Chapter 244

Chapter 244: Chapter 244: Agnes is missing

Lilac didn’t wait for Sean’s thirty-minute ultimatum to run out.

The moment the call ended, her thumb hovered over Stanley’s contact—and without hesitation, she hit Call.

The line barely rang once when the door to their suite clicked open.

Her head snapped toward the entrance.

Stanley stepped in calmly, almost too casually, pulling his phone from his pocket at the same time her screen went black with a dropped call.

He smirked. “Already missing me?”

Lilac stared at him, at the screen, then back at him again. Her jaw tightened.

“Where did you go?” she demanded, marching toward him. “And why the hell didn’t you inform me?”

Stanley shut the door behind him and hung his coat, taking his sweet time—like he hadn’t just disappeared without a word. The amusement dancing in his eyes only fueled the fire in her chest.

It didn’t just annoy her.

No—it infuriated her.

“You left me here wondering whether something had happened! No note, no text, not even a damn scribble on a napkin!” Her voice rose, edged with a sharpness that surprised even her.

Stanley chuckled under his breath, stepping further into the room with the kind of deliberate ease he reserved for high-stakes encounters.

“You’re this worked up after twenty minutes?” he drawled. “You wound me, Lilac.”

“I’m not joking,” she snapped. “And don’t you dare try to charm your way out of this.”

“I wasn’t charming,” he said, tilting his head. “Just honest. You were missing me.”

She scowled. “Stanley, what the hell is going on with you?”

This time, the humor drained from his expression. He met her eyes, really met them, and the faint lines around his mouth tightened.

And when he spoke again, it was quiet. Low. Serious.

“I went to meet someone important.”

The change in tone knocked the breath out of her lungs.

The way he said it—measured, calm, and resolute—erased every doubt she’d been circling in her head. He hadn’t been wandering off aimlessly. He was chasing something that mattered.

Lilac took a step back, tension shifting into unease. “Important how?”

Stanley moved past her, toward the small table near the window. From his coat, he retrieved a sealed envelope and dropped it onto the wood with a quiet thud.

“Important enough,” he said without looking back.

Lilac stared at the envelope, then at him. “This is about Reeve, isn’t it?”

Stanley’s eyes flicked toward her, just for a moment—but it was enough. She saw it then. The confirmation. The weight behind it.

He hadn’t said the name, but he didn’t need to.

Without dodging, he nodded. “He’s the reason we’re here.”

Lilac already knew that, but hearing Stanley say it out loud sent a cold pulse down her spine.

“I found where he’s hiding,” Stanley continued, stepping back into her space. “It’s here. In Fintown.”

He didn’t dress it up. He didn’t stall. He just dropped the truth like he always did—blunt, sharp, and unapologetic.

Lilac reached for the envelope with a slightly trembling hand. She flipped it open and began scanning the contents—photographs, addresses, and observation notes.

It was all there.

“So he’s in disguise,” she murmured, narrowing her eyes. “Then how are we supposed to find him?”

The intel was clean—precise, even—but not enough to give a face to the ghost they were chasing. Reeve had vanished behind aliases and carefully built walls.

She looked up, expecting a strategy.

Instead, Stanley stood there, unreadable as ever.

Lilac let out a frustrated breath. “So how do we plan to get him?”

Stanley studied her for a moment. Those determined green eyes, the ones that always saw through his silence. The ones that grounded him in a way no plan ever could.

Then, finally, he spoke.

“So this is how it goes,” he said, his voice low and deliberate as he started explaining his plan.

***

The next morning at Greyson International, the glass doors of the CEO’s office slammed open.

David looked up from his desk, startled. “Dorothy?!”

His wife stormed in, eyes wild and face pale, panic etched in every line. Fury radiated from her in waves.

“Dorothy—what the hell? Where are your manners?” David demanded, rising abruptly from his chair.

“To hell with your manners, David!” she snapped, brushing past his words like smoke. She stood toe-to-toe with him, eyes blazing. “Agnes is missing.”

David froze, blinking in confusion. “What are you talking about—missing? You told me she traveled for work.”

“I thought she had!” Dorothy bit out, her voice tight and trembling. “That’s what he told me. But I checked—she never arrived at her destination. And worse, she never even boarded the damn flight!”

David’s brows drew together in disbelief. “Wait, what? That doesn’t make sense.”

Just yesterday, she was furious over Agnes ignoring them—accusing him of being cold and indifferent. And now she stood here claiming their daughter had vanished?

Before he could say more, the office door creaked open again.

Eric stepped inside, holding a file, his expression neutral—until he registered the storm in the room.

Dorothy turned like a striking viper, eyes locking onto him with a glare that could slice steel.

“He kidnapped her!” she screamed, pointing at him with shaking hands.

Eric stopped in his tracks, stunned. “What?!”

“She never boarded the flight!” Dorothy shouted, charging toward him. “You lied! You told me she had urgent meetings, that she left for Berlin. But I checked—there’s no flight, no booking, nothing!”

“Dorothy, you need to calm—”

But she didn’t let him finish. In one furious motion, she grabbed his collar and slapped him hard across the face.

The sound cracked through the air like a whip.

“Dorothy!” David rushed to her side, pulling her back. “Have you lost your mind?!”

Outside the glass walls, employees had begun to gather. Curious eyes peeked in as whispers spread like wildfire.

Dorothy shook David’s hand off and pointed again at Eric, voice breaking but fierce. “Ask him where she is! He lied about everything!”

Eric stood still, jaw clenched, cheek burning red from the slap. “I only told you what Agnes told me,” he said evenly, though the tension in his body betrayed him.

“Liar!” Dorothy shrieked, her voice sharp enough to pierce glass. “I hired someone to track the itinerary. There was no booking under Agnes Greyson. No check-in, no car waiting, nothing! She never left.”

Eric’s eyes flickered just slightly, but he stood his ground. “I’m not lying.”

Dorothy narrowed her eyes. His calm façade only infuriated her more. She could see it in his expression—he was cornered but still pretending.

“If you’re not lying,” she said coldly, pulling away from David’s grasp, “then where is she, Eric? Tell us. If you know so much about her schedule, call her. Right now.”

David’s gaze snapped from Dorothy to Eric.

She was unhinged, yes—but she was also thorough. Dorothy never made an accusation without evidence. If she’d uncovered something, it wasn’t baseless.

And the fact that Eric wasn’t offering answers?

Unsettling.

“Eric,” David said firmly, eyes narrowing, “call Agnes. Now.”

The air in the room grew dense with tension.

Eric hesitated for the briefest moment. Too brief for most—but not for David. He saw it. That flicker of uncertainty, that beat of delay.

“I—I’ll try,” Eric said, pulling out his phone with a calm he clearly had to force.

He unlocked it, turned the screen toward them, and dialed.

The line rang once… twice…

Straight to voicemail.

He tried again. Still voicemail.

Dorothy folded her arms. “Convenient.”

Eric didn’t speak. His jaw locked, thumb frozen on the screen.

David took a step closer, his voice quiet but sharp. “If you’re hiding something, Eric, now is the time to speak. Before this becomes something none of us can walk back from.”

Eric looked up at him, something unreadable flashing in his eyes.

But he said nothing until the phone in his hand rang, seizing everyone’s attention.